Tech City UK and Nesta have joined forces (supported by core data partner GrowthIntel) to produce the hotly-anticipated Tech Nation 2016 Report. This report contains a comprehensive analysis of the UK's digital tech economy to date and sets out compelling statistics suggesting that it is the digital tech industries which are driving economic growth, employment and regional development within the UK.

Key points raised in this report include:

the UK's digital tech industries are growing at a speed 32% faster than the rest of the UK economy (in terms of turnover);

the estimated turnover of the UK's digital tech industries reached £161bn in 2014;

the digital tech industry is responsible for creating employment opportunities and accounting for 1.56m jobs in the UK; and

41% of digital tech economy jobs exist in what was traditionally thought of as non-digital industries (such as the public sector and the financial services).

This report appears to support the EU Commission's thinking behind the third pillar of the Digital Single Market ("DSM"), which stresses the need for an inclusive e-society. The DSM predicts that almost half the EU population (at 47%) is not properly digitally skilled, despite predictions that 90% of jobs will require digital skills in the future.

If this report is anything to go by, given the level of unprecedented growth in the digital sector in the UK alone digital skills will be more crucial than ever as digital industries continue to develop and invade all spheres of the European economy.